User-generated content is a highly prized commodity with marketers who use it to prove their brand’s authenticity. When marketing to Millennials, a segment of consumers who are particularly swayed by user-generated content, visual content is especially useful. Instagram, a social media platform that relies heavily, and in some cases, solely, on visual content, is quickly shaping up to be a perfect match for marketers pushing a brand. Instagram has had somewhat of a meteoric rise among social media platforms. Within...

“The cultural and organizational implications are huge. Relationships must be fully reciprocal and once that relationship is established, companies of all sizes need to be prepared to act based on the influence of the customer. In this way, organizations are shifting from being merely customer-centric to customer-activated.”   This was just part of the message shared from the editors at IBM in regard to a recent study, which focused on midmarket companies and their intent on developing a digital strategy. The...

As social media needs increase, more businesses are looking to hire a dedicated individual to carry out the work. Gone are the days of assigning random employees to – on occasion – post an article on Facebook or send out a tweet. The time is now to get serious about creating a social media strategy and sticking with it.   Doing it without a designated employee who is held accountable for its execution just won’t cut it. Hiring someone just because...

We’ve heard the phrase “content is king” for a while now. And although it supported the blogging efforts of many, it was more of a cliché than anything else. As long as blogs were written (be it low-quality or not), SEO tactics had to be employed to rise in the online rankings.   In 2013, however, the cliché is becoming reality. Gone are the days of hack bloggers that are just writing to write and just relying on backlinks and keywords...